LAUNCH

White Rock Lake is to artist CHRIS McHENRY what Water Lily Pond was to Claude Monet — McHenry doesn’t paint White Rock scenes because the lake is well-known, but rather because he hopes his attention to detail, and nostalgic and realistic touch might make our neighborhood gem known to art lovers around the globe. He’s well on his way — McHenry, along with his paintings of familiar-to-us landscapes and cityscapes, was featured in the November/December 2009 edition of International Artist magazine.

Is painting your primary occupation?

That’s what I do full-time these days. I first studied architecture and had to take a lot of art classes. I found that what I liked about architecture was the drawing and rendering. After that, I sort of eased into fine arts studies.

Looking at your work, it seems you have a fondness for White Rock Lake.

Yes. Even when I lived in Grand Prairie, when I was painting billboards for a living, I used to drive all the way to White Rock Lake. There aren’t too many urban areas where you have a lake with so much variety — the wetlands, the hills, the reflection of clouds on the water. When we looked for houses 10 years ago, we happened to come across one near the lake, with a bedroom with a view of the lake that I use as a studio. The neighborhood is perfect, and that it is by White Rock is the icing on the cake.